Can anyone give me any advice on what they would use for a diskless
(cd based) or even small disk print server.

We have a windows domain network and want users to print to a
printer. We dont want to load windows on the computer that the
printserver is on because we would have to pay for a lic on a machine
that is just a print server. It needs very little security etc. it is
just a print server. I dont want to much software on it as the more
software the more posiblity there is for things to fail.

Anybody give any advice.

Regards

10-01-2007, 12:28 AM

unix

Re: Diskless Print Server ??

Freesco???

--
please reply to bargerw NO @ SPAM bellsouth.net and remove the NOSPAM

"steve" <stevesemple@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:1180451965.907159.164390@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
> Can anyone give me any advice on what they would use for a diskless
> (cd based) or even small disk print server.
>
> We have a windows domain network and want users to print to a
> printer. We dont want to load windows on the computer that the
> printserver is on because we would have to pay for a lic on a machine
> that is just a print server. It needs very little security etc. it is
> just a print server. I dont want to much software on it as the more
> software the more posiblity there is for things to fail.
>
> Anybody give any advice.
>
> Regards
>[/color]

10-01-2007, 12:28 AM

unix

Re: Diskless Print Server ??

steve wrote:[color=blue]
> Can anyone give me any advice on what they would use for a diskless
> (cd based) or even small disk print server.
>[/color]
The currently idle Intel InBuysiness Print server that I have lying in
my cupboard.

IIRC it was about $20 when I got it. Its worth nothing now. Ebay full of em.
[color=blue]
> We have a windows domain network and want users to print to a
> printer. We dont want to load windows on the computer that the
> printserver is on because we would have to pay for a lic on a machine
> that is just a print server. It needs very little security etc. it is
> just a print server. I dont want to much software on it as the more
> software the more posiblity there is for things to fail.
>[/color]

Go on ebay and buy a dedicated box, The old Intel range are good enough
for windows. Other good ones are HP JetDirect etc etc.

Even a brand new one will be cheaper than a computer.

[color=blue]
> Anybody give any advice.
>
> Regards
>[/color]

10-01-2007, 12:28 AM

unix

Re: Diskless Print Server ??

On Tue, 29 May 2007 23:48:09 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
[color=blue]
> steve wrote:[color=green]
>> Can anyone give me any advice on what they would use for a diskless
>> (cd based) or even small disk print server.
>>[/color]
> The currently idle Intel InBuysiness Print server that I have lying in
> my cupboard.
>
> IIRC it was about $20 when I got it. Its worth nothing now. Ebay full of em.
>[color=green]
>> We have a windows domain network and want users to print to a
>> printer. We dont want to load windows on the computer that the
>> printserver is on because we would have to pay for a lic on a machine
>> that is just a print server. It needs very little security etc. it is
>> just a print server. I dont want to much software on it as the more
>> software the more posiblity there is for things to fail.
>>[/color]
>
> Go on ebay and buy a dedicated box, The old Intel range are good enough
> for windows. Other good ones are HP JetDirect etc etc.
>
> Even a brand new one will be cheaper than a computer.
>
>[color=green]
>> Anybody give any advice.
>>
>> Regards
>>[/color][/color]
The primary consideration is probably the interface to the printer.
The old standard parallel interface is too slow for modern print jobs. If
you have a HP laser which will accept a jet direct card, then the printer
will be a TCP/IP peer on your network, and no other print server is
required. If your printer is using a USB interface, then you can get a
simple print server, such as this:
[url]http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=165[/url]

Or, as an alternate, you can setup Samba on a spare box which is connected
to the printer. If you go the Samba route, you will not need a powerful
computer and it can be setup to boot headless. Any GNU/Linux distribution
can work in this role, but I'd opt for a "base" install of Slackware 11.
The bonus with this method is that the spare box can also be used as a
Samba file server, etc. The computer I have for this task is a Pentium
166 with 64M RAM. It also has a modem for receiving faxes.

--
Douglas Mayne

10-01-2007, 12:28 AM

unix

Re: Diskless Print Server ??

Douglas Mayne wrote:[color=blue]
> On Tue, 29 May 2007 23:48:09 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>[color=green]
>> steve wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> Can anyone give me any advice on what they would use for a diskless
>>> (cd based) or even small disk print server.
>>>[/color]
>> The currently idle Intel InBuysiness Print server that I have lying in
>> my cupboard.
>>
>> IIRC it was about $20 when I got it. Its worth nothing now. Ebay full of em.
>>[color=darkred]
>>> We have a windows domain network and want users to print to a
>>> printer. We dont want to load windows on the computer that the
>>> printserver is on because we would have to pay for a lic on a machine
>>> that is just a print server. It needs very little security etc. it is
>>> just a print server. I dont want to much software on it as the more
>>> software the more posiblity there is for things to fail.
>>>[/color]
>> Go on ebay and buy a dedicated box, The old Intel range are good enough
>> for windows. Other good ones are HP JetDirect etc etc.
>>
>> Even a brand new one will be cheaper than a computer.
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>> Anybody give any advice.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>[/color][/color]
> The primary consideration is probably the interface to the printer.
> The old standard parallel interface is too slow for modern print jobs.[/color]

It will certainly run faster than a 10MbpS link will feed it. I run all
parallel on even 100mpbs and its all slower than the parallel interface
will go native..

If[color=blue]
> you have a HP laser which will accept a jet direct card, then the printer
> will be a TCP/IP peer on your network, and no other print server is
> required. If your printer is using a USB interface, then you can get a
> simple print server, such as this:
> [url]http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=165[/url][/color]

USB IS slower than parallel IME.[color=blue]
>
> Or, as an alternate, you can setup Samba on a spare box which is connected
> to the printer. If you go the Samba route, you will not need a powerful
> computer and it can be setup to boot headless. Any GNU/Linux distribution
> can work in this role, but I'd opt for a "base" install of Slackware 11.
> The bonus with this method is that the spare box can also be used as a
> Samba file server, etc. The computer I have for this task is a Pentium
> 166 with 64M RAM. It also has a modem for receiving faxes.
>[/color]
we used to do that..but with print servers in a box being peanuts, the
novelty wore off. AND they DO need disks.